Webley Typhoon pistol – Part 1

Before I begin, a couple of announcements. First, the latest podcast is up. This time I answered questions instead of following my normally scheduled material. There were too many questions sent in since the last podcast, and I didn’t want to make everyone wait for months to get answers. I think a lot of the questions came to the podcast because I use my real name there and people thought they were getting a better answer somehow. So please, if you have questions that are very specific, ask them here in the comments section. Ask more general questions on the podcast.

Second, there have been a few requests for me to review the Benjamin Super Streak breakbarrel that I have. I’m holding back because the rifle won’t be available until late December. That’s available ANYWHERE – not just here. I will review it in advance of arrival, but not this far, because the demand that might be created cannot be satisfied.

Powerful reactions to the Webley Typhoon!Today’s subject, the Webley Typhoon air pistol, has already received several customer reviews on the website, and if you read them you’ll see that most reviewers don’t care for the gun. So I wondered, “How bad can it be?” I’m the guy who reviewed Chinese airguns in print back when nobody else would have anything to do with them, and I criticized them more than anyone except some hotheads on the forums. But even then I found some things to like on certain guns. So it is with abundant curiosity that I begin this report.

This pistol is made in Turkey and there wasn’t a similar model before the move. Webley did have a Typhoon years ago, but it resembled the Hurricane – a different pistol altogether.

Physical appearanceThis pistol is both large and heavy. With the cocking aid attached, as I’m sure it is meant to be while shooting, it weighs 3 lbs., 4 oz. and has an overall length of 18.25 inches. The discrepancy between these measurements and the specifications given on the Pyramyd Air website are no doubt due to the fact that I left the cocking aid on the gun to take them. The somewhat small grip sits well below the spring cylinder, which sets up the pistol for a lot of torque when it fires. I’ll see what the “semi-recoilless” feature does to deal with that.

The new Webley Typhoon (top) is much larger than an M1911A1 firearm (below) or a Webley Hurricane air pistol (bottom).

The grip frame and cocking aid are both matte plastic, and the powerplant is blued steel. For the price, this looks like a good value. The front sight is also plastic, and the front blade is spring-loaded to push down out of the way if your hand contacts it during cocking. The rear sight is mostly plastic and has a strange windage adjustment method I will explain.

With the cocking aid removed, the pistol is somewhat shorter.

Adjusting the sightsThe rear sight does all the adjustment. The elevation wheel is in the rear of the sight and has a smooth, even click adjustment. The windage is strange, however. The sight notch rests on a semicircular base and that rotates as it’s adjusted. As the notch moves to either side, the width of the notch becomes narrower, which is odd. Also, when the sight is adjusted all the way to either side, you can see that it is out of alignment, which give you a strange feeling when sighting. Let’s hope it doesn’t need much adjustment.

The semicircular rear sight notch rotates to either side when adjusted.

How does the semi-recoilless feature work?The grip frame is in two pieces. When you fire, the top part that contains the spring tube moves while the bottom part remains motionless. Does it work? Well, when I fired the gun I felt none of the torque I was anticipating, so yes, I have to say it does work. However, when I compared it to my Webley Hurricane pistol that has close to the same power, it also moves very little. So I believe this feature does work, but that it is required for this gun because of the grip design. Other air pistols don’t need it to achieve the same lack of recoil.

Heavy trigger and lots of vibration!My trigger-pull gauge stops at 8 lbs. and can be extrapolated to 9. It couldn’t release the trigger, which I estimate at 10-11 lbs. or about the same as the Logun S-16S. For a pistol that’s too heavy because it makes the gun difficult to control.

34 thoughts on “Webley Typhoon pistol – Part 1”

Hi BB Can the Logun trigger pull be adjusted to a normal trigger pull?

Also what is the factory trigger pull for the airforce Condor? Do you consider the safety difficult to release? I am in the Christmas wish phase and deciding between the Logun and the condor, maybe one strike against the Logun………….

Just WHAT IS a “normal” trigger pull? The ASTM says an airgun trigger pull must not be greater than 22 lbs. In that respect, the Logun may be considered normal.

I suppose Logun owners have found ways to lighten their pulls. I note that the spec. given to Pyramyd Air is a 5.5-lb. pull, so adjustment is probably a key, though I was unable to adjust mine below about 11 lbs.

The AirForce Condor has a factory-rated 3-lb. trigger pull, but I used to work there and I can tell you that most of their triggers break with less effort. Mine goes off at 2 lbs. 6 oz.

I do not consider the Condor safety difficult to release, but you should know that I also shoot an M1 Garand, whose safety works the same way and is just as hard/easy to release.

Read all the reviews on the Webley I can find. Seems like the only good thing about it are it comes in .22 caliber. I would like to see the Daisy single pump 953 beefed up enough to be respectable in .22. It would then be an awesome plinker.

“I’m holding back because the rifle won’t be available until late December. That’s available ANYWHERE – not just here. I will review it in advance of arrival, but not this far, because the demand that might be created cannot be satisfied.”

Is it that good? Could you give me a yes/no on accuracy: do you think the gun is/will turn into a shooter? (I’m thinking of all the times you say, “this gun can shoot!”)

The Logun and Air Force rifles look almost identical to me. Is one a copy of the other? Which one came first?

A completely different subject. If a spring piston gun breaks from dry-firing is there a part or two you can replace to fix it, like the spring, or is the whole thing a goner?

Thanks for your advice to check if there was a battery in the illumination knob of the Bug Buster scope. Turns out there wasn’t, and it’s working fine now. So much for the airgunsmithing license, but the main thing is that I’m in paradise with this scope.

I think I’ve got it. The upcoming big surprise must be the new Air Force target rifle they’re bringing out…. If they’ve managed to further accurize what they have in the Talon series that really will be something.

bb – I bought the Typhoon about half a year ago, and it’s been pretty frustrating. The semi-recoilless feature means that as I slowly pull the trigger the sights move and I have to line them up again. That said, it’s strangely fun to shoot, as I’m mainly used to the delicate finesse of the Beeman P3 trigger. I’m assuming the lightest possible hold is the best. That’s what I’ve been using, but it still doesn’t yield acceptable groups for the price. Can a gun like this be improved through any little tricks you might know of?

I held the new AirForce target rifle yesterday and tried the trigger. It’s going to be a world-beater. But if that rifle were an iguana, the big surprise I have for you is a T-Rex! No, it’s bigger than that. It’s Jurrasic Park.

Just got an order today from Pyramid. Along with another copy of the 32 page flyer I got in the mail last week was a 4 page flyer of condensed articles from your blog and the Pyramid site. That’s pretty neat. It’s nice to kick back and read a paper copy you can hold in your hands sometimes. I hope you guys print up some more flyers with reviews and such. I’m sure you have enough material to print up a small flyer every couple of months. Even though I have read most of it on the blog I would like to leaf through it and reread some of the stuff I forgot about. Maybe even pass it around to some of the guys at work.

I was also wondering if it was possible to have your R1 book scaned and put on a CD for sale. I have bought several old 40’s and 50’s vacuum tube electronics manuals (long out of print) on CD that turned out pretty good. You could also sell a downloadable copy on the internet. Just a thought.

I’d like to read that. I never got to read the original book. I was wondering if it went into any more detail about tuning than your 13 part article on the subject. There are some people that make tuning an air rifle out to be some kind of magical voodoo only they can perform.

Do I remember you saying next year field target is going to limit power to 12 foot pounds? If so, is Pyramid going to offer the TX200 in the limited power version? I’m curious since I was interested in purchasing one. That would be hilarious if they changed it for 1 year then changed their minds down the road. Is it possible to detune a full power TX200 to 12 foot pounds? Any thoughts on this would be appreciated. Thanks.

No, the book goes MUCH deeper into tuning than the blog. In one whole chaper I tested different sized transfer ports that Dennis Quackenbush made for a testbed R1 I have.

But tuning need not be a big mystery. The enemy is loose parts and a spring that cannot be restrained. By tightening all the tolerances – especially those around the mainspring (inside and out) the rifle becomes smoother. All “velocity tar” does is dampen the vibration caused by loose parts.

There are some other things such as a smooth compression chamber, but not too smooth (no mirror finishes) a good-fitting piston seal, a smooth transfer port with radiused ends (the transfer port can be mirror-finished if you like) and working out the mainspring so you get near-full compression while keeping the relaxed load as light as possible. Increasing piston stroke is another neat trick.

Naturally the TX200 already exists as a 12 foot-pound gun. All you have to do to get one is place a special order with Pyramyd Air and your rifle will be packed with their next shipment from Air Arms.

Don’t think a 12 foot-pound TX is lighter to cock. It’s heavier! A short stroke is what keeps it to 12 foot-pounds and is also the reason it is so difficult to tune an FAC TX down to 12 foot-pounds.

So the 12 foot pound restriction is true? I saw some of the people in the 2007 field target competition were listed as using the older TX200SRs. They probably invested a lot of time and effort into them and now have to revamp it or buy a new rifle.

did anyone think of commenting on the gun in question? I wrote to BB about the Typhoon about a two weeks after I purchased it from Pyramyd… problems with mounting a scope and getting it to stay put. Impulse buying is a real problem for me, I own a Webley Eclipse and have shot both the Hurricane and Tempest – so it seemed a safe bet. – but I was seriously disappointed. The sights are terrible in my opinion for a gun in the $120 range. That question about the IZH 53.. no doubt comes with much better sights. The gun looks cool, but fails to hit its mark. The recoilless action is a hindrance to it’s accuracy, and even though the cool grips and trigger guard help with a two-handed hold – the gun would have been better with a solid stock. All said and done, it rips up cans when you can hit them, has the grooves for a scope (no stop or place for one and this could be an issue..), and strangely interesting to shoot. Whoever makes the tactical skeleton stock for the one Crosman CO2 should consider this pistol for it’s next candidate. This is not a good pistol, however it may make an excellent, little packable carbine. If I ever have time, I’ll do the project myself. I think it could be a winner.

Everyone has more in their lives than just the topic of one day’s report. So, we sometimes go off on tangents. We welcome the interaction and the interest in airguns, regardless of the topic.

Besides, what would someone do if they had a question about something we’ve never covered in a blog report? Not ask at all and remain in the dark? We’re all here to learn, and the ability to ask off-topic questions is the reason this blog has 67,000+ registered users.